Practically a ideal exemplar of "routine thriller." Friedkin had a marvelous time in the 1970s, coming up with some original genre pieces like "The Exorcist" and "The French Connection." All of his work is commercial but Exorcist was gripping because it was so successfully manipulative, and French Connection gave us a cop who was unexpectedly mean and embedded his character in a fascinating mystery story.

Here, though, there's not much originality on display. There's nothing wrong with the direction or the performances. (I think this is the second movie in which Linda Fiorentino makes a phone call in the nude. Rather a nice touch.) Friedman makes good use of San Francisco locations but some of the scenes do come through as derivative. The first chase through one of the city's Oriental theaters that I can remember is in Orson Welles' "Lady From Shanghai." There is also a car chase up and down the city's streets. It will never match the car chase in "Bullett" but in order to make the scene look new the director has these two cars not only racing downhill and being jolted at the intersections on the way down. They actually leave the pavement entirely and rocket into the air. And the chase extends through a parade in Chinatown, a scene in which a couple of pedestrians get flattened. Something similar appeared in a movie directed about 20 years ago by Peter Bogdanovich. Friedkin does open his film with an excellent exploration of a well-appointed house in the city. The camera takes its time examining the tribal masks, the Degas on the wall, while the less outrageous excerpts from Stravinksy's Rites of Spring serve as background. (We gradually become aware that someone is being murdered off screen.) It's well done.

There's a good deal of realistic gore too, and about the same amount of sex involving Fiorentino. Evidently she likes to dominate the man, tying his hands behind his back and making him do things that only rabid subordinates would do. Her expression during ordinary love making suggests it's more of a nuisance than a pleasure. And we see one murder that has produced about a bathtub's worth of blood and another in which the victim's brains are exposed. I'd better quit now. Old memories are being redintegrated and I can't tell whether they're from a traffic accident, my marriage, or both.

But basically the problem is with the script. Instead of a murderer, there turn out to be several murderers, none closely related to the others. A lot of surprises pop out at us in the last few minutes, complicated and with little in the way of groundwork. Some questions are left unanswered. I still don't know who Caruso was chasing through Chinatown. Nobody involved in the film seems to have cared enough to polish this into a more acceptable shape. Too bad.

Make no mistake: (1) this IS a sordid crime story and (2) is is FAR better than the national critics - and the ones here - would have you believe. I have found it fascinating the three times I've watched it and look forward to seeing it again. It surprises me each time, being better than I remembered. It's nicely photographed, too. Why I can't get a widescreen DVD of this, I don't know, but all that seems to be available is full screen.

William Friedkin directed this which usually means (1) a riveting story; (2) stylish cinematography. That's the case here. I rate this movie so high mainly because it's so entertaining. And it doesn't overstay it's welcome at a short hour-and-a- half.

There are some stunning action scenes with cars hitting people, cars hitting cars and a long, wild car chase through a parade in San Francisco's Chinatown.

My only complaint is the normal Liberal in-your-face bias that Hollywood always seems to show. They just can't help giving you their pro-Democrat, anti- Catholic, anti-authority bias. Early scenes provide some cheap shots on Nixon and Reagan and later we see the film's two male starts talking irreverently in church. The governor is a sleaze in the story and the cops are corrupt. I've just come to except these modern-day film clichés and not let it interfere with my enjoyment of the film.

Speaking of actors and characters, David Caruso and Chazz Palminteri are the two male leads I referred to in the previous paragraph. They are both good. Why Caruso didn't make it in the movies must have been due to the roles he took, not his acting. Linda Fiorentino does what she does best - plays a whore. There isn't a moral person in here, at least with the lead actors. That's no surprise since "sleaze king" Joe Eszterhas wrote the script. Nonetheless, those three actors are very good with Caruso, as the cop, the best.

It's a crude story at times (there was a NC-version available of this, as well),but it's very interesting start-to-finish, has some memorable scenes, nice San Francisco scenery and a nice soundtrack from Celtic singer Loreena McKennitt.

San Francisco ADA David Corelli (David Caruso) is attending a ball with friend Matt Gavin (Chazz Palminteri) and his wife, David's former love, Trina (Linda Fiorentino). David is called away to the brutal murder of a wealthy businessman. He finds a silver case engraved with the Chinese character Jade. The police uncovers photos of Governor Edwards (Richard Crenna) with an unknown woman later identified as prostitute Patrice Jacinto (Angie Everhart). Bob Hargrove (Michael Biehn) is a disagreeable police detective. As the investigation continues, the Gavins are pulled into the sexual political intrigue.

Joe Eszterhas' psycho-sexual script may not be fitting material for director William Friedkin. The rewriting is evident of that and not necessarily fixed anything. This concentrates more on the lurid in this stylized erotic thriller. Bless his heart, Friedkin tried. There are some car action on the steep streets but he has done better work before. Driving thru the parade may be an interesting idea. The execution is more frustrating than thriller.

The movie got caught up with the Caruso factor during its initial release. He is a perfectly serviceable actor if he doesn't get romantic. His sex appeal is limited and any attempt at sexuality is awkward at best. His character is rarely a lawyer and runs around investigating like a cop. He plays a better cop than a lawyer. Corelli should have been a police detective. Fiorentino has her great smoldering dark sexuality and that helps in this role. The story is a little messy and drags sometimes. It needs a little simplification to allow better flow and heightened tension. None of it is that compelling but it's not completely bad.